Republic Day 2022 Chief Guest: India may host five Central Asian leaders as Republic Day Guests 

Republic Day 2022 Chief Guest: India is planning to invite the leaders of five Central Asian countries as Republic Day 2022 Chief Guests. The five central Asian nations include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Out of the five nations, three share a border with Afghanistan.

As per reports, India has made an informal outreach to these nations through diplomatic channels. Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to hold a dialogue with the foreign ministers of these five countries between December 18-19. The outreach will lay the groundwork for the leaders' level summit.

This comes against the backdrop of the country’s focus on the strategic region for connectivity, trade and security.

Leaders of 5 Central Asian Nations

Kazakhstan- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Uzbekistan- Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Tajikistan- Emomali Rahmon

Turkmenistan- Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow

Kyrgyzstan-Sadyr Japarov

These five leaders are likely to attend the Republic Day Celebrations in India in January 2022. This news is not yet confirmed and would depend on the COVID situation then. Out of these five central Asian nations, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan share a border with Afghanistan.

As per reports, there were plans to invite countries from the BIMSTEC grouping, which includes Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The move, however, did not materialise. 

Why is this important?

India has been engaging with these five central Asian nations in the past few months over the current situation in Afghanistan, as these nations play a significant role in the region. India had recently hosted an NSA-level dialogue on the Afghanistan crisis with the five countries in New Delhi, during which they had expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan.

This will be the first time that all Central Asian countries will be present as Republic Day guests and the second time so many countries will be invited together for India's Republic Day celebrations after India invited ASEAN grouping for the 2018 Republic day celebrations. 

India shares cultural, civilization and historic linkages with central Asian countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had become the first Prime Minister to visit all Central Asian countries in 2015, a first by any Indian Prime Minister since the five republics came into being after Soviet Union's breakup.

India's Republic Day Guests since 2014

Republic Day 2015 Chief Guest- US President Barack Obama 

Republic Day 2016 Chief Guest- French President Francois Hollande

Republic Day 2017 Chief Guest-UAE's Md Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Republic Day 2018 Chief Guests-10 ASEAN Countries

Republic Day 2019 Chief Guest -  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

Republic Day 2020 Chief Guest- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Background 

The visit by Central Asian leadership will mark the third meeting between Central Asian and Indian foreign ministers. The first took place in January 2019 in Uzbekistan's Samarkand, where India was represented by the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The second such meeting took place virtually last year. 

UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to be the Chief Guest at India's Republic Day 2021 but he had to cancel due to the COVID situation in the United Kingdom at that time. 

Among the central Asian nations, only Kazakhstan has been the chief guest at India's Republic Day before in 2009.